"The secret of life is not only making lemonade out of lemons -- but it's understanding the benefits of the lemons. It's looking into the countless ways that lemons make us better." I've come to know my neighborhood well. As the days have gotten shorter and the skies more grey, I've taken to long, midday… Continue reading How to Sweeten Lemonade
The dracaena fragrans, or corn plant, is a popular house plant because of how tall it can grow and its relatively easy care routine. I got my first around 2020, a year that house plants would give many of us a much needed distraction in the face of shelter in place orders. At the time… Continue reading Some Leaves are Still Green
Breathe in. What do you do when the very thing that is meant to help you can also kill you? Breathe out. According to my nurse, about 15% of patients who get iron infusions react to them. A reaction can range from a tickle in the throat and rashes to more serious reactions. Breathe in.… Continue reading Breath
I have a beautifully worded tweet as my cover image on my Facebook page that contains the words, "The glory of God is Black people alive." When I first saw it, I drank in each word of the sentence. Memorized each curve of every letter. I often share and fall in love with beautiful statements… Continue reading Forgiven
Yemaya, The moon is full and I am overflowing with the myriad things inside me. I drench myself in blues around my waist and feel the weight of beads against my skin. Cool to the touch they ground me in you as the tides get higher. Yemaya, Please see me. Walking toward you sideways through… Continue reading Everything Can Wait
In September of last year the increasingly devastating wild fire season in northern California brought apocalyptic orange and red skies to the Bay Area. I woke up one morning and looked out on a dark red glow to the sky, disoriented about the time of day. I thought the redness would shake, but as the… Continue reading What to Black People Is Safety?
"To provide for those who grieve...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes." Isaiah 61:3 Last night during my small group for church, our pastor had us reflect on the biblical passage: "The people who survived the sword, found favor in the wilderness while Israel was seeking rest" (Jeremiah 31:2). That passage evokes… Continue reading Beauty for Ashes
In my travels and the many places I have called home over the years -- from Ghana to Cambridge, England -- the lessons I learned from watching my mother make spaces has stayed with me in very real ways. Placemaking by naming and claiming space is an act of resistance. It calls forth my right… Continue reading Making Space, Building Place
I'm the "strong friend." The ones those online posters tell you to check on, but who you may never know what's truly going on. Not that I'm proud of that. It's because I have designated people who have been tried and trained to help me carry my loads. I like to appear lighter for others.… Continue reading Years that Bind
From age 4 to 18 I lived in the type of sleepy towns you read about in books, where people don't always lock their doors, unless of course you're us - the only non-white family around for many years. In that case your world is surrounded by Confederate flags in a state that was part… Continue reading Saying Goodbye to A Town Where Time Does Not Reside, Part 1
Odelia Younge 